Image courtesy of /u/stlemons, creativelyferalart.tumblr.com
1. Misfits.GG
The former Graviton Surge team begins its first full month under the Misfits banner and have rewarded their new sponsors with immediate results. Misfits have been on the rise ever since they moved Swedish DPS player Zebbosai to the support role, picking up young Dane Zaprey to play DPS late last month. The result has seen Misfits become one of the most feared outfits in Europe. With the rise of Zenyatta and the introduction of Ana, Misfits look to be in good shape with two support players very capable of dishing out damage in Nevix (listed as both #1 and #3 on MasterOverwatch for competitive play) and Zebbosai. Misfits have never shied away from bold hero picks and have already picked Ana in the Overwatch Open qualifiers. With the meta currently in a state of flux, only time will tell if Misfits can continue to stay at the top or even push on an establish themselves in a tier of their own.
Versatility is the name of the game when it comes to Creation, who have benefited from Linkzr and Bromas being able to play a wide variety of dps and off-tank roles to supplement Art1er. The team doesn't seem to have lost much steam after losing former tf2 player KnoxXx to Rogue in late June, using ToxiKen as a temporary stand-in before making him a permanent part of the team in recent weeks. Although they tend to struggle against the likes of Misfits and REUNITED, the past few months have seen steady improvement from Creation. The month of July has seen Creation maintain steady top three placings while picking up another tournament win, beating REUNITED and Rogue to win the Acer Pro Challenge.
3. REUNITED
REUNITED have shown no signs of slowing down this July despite dropping DPS star 2Easy from the team. With the help of rookie Finley “Kyb” Adisi, who caught the team's attention due to his outstanding MasterOverwatch numbers, the former Battlefield 4 roster surged ahead of Misfits to win two consecutive Gosugamers weeklies after finishing in 2nd place to them in the weeks before. Along the way they've also handed out consecutive defeats to Creation eSports and lost only 6 matches in the entire of July, igniting the dreams of young e-sports hopefuls waiting for a chance to be noticed. Despite displaying arguably the most consistency against the other top teams in Europe, they were upset in the ELEAGUE Overwatch Open qualifiers most recently by ANOX. REUNITED being ranked third shows how little there is between the top three teams in EU at the moment. As McCree comes back into the meta we could see a boost for Reunited in the near future with as Vallutaja is one of the best McCree players in the game.
4. Rogue
Rogue have dropped off the top in recent months due to their continuing struggle to find a top DPS player to complement TviQ following the departure of Iddqd in June, perhaps forcing the rest of the team into uncomfortable roles. The last tournament win for the team came in May and the team have been unable to consistently produce results against the top three teams in recent weeks. However, they are still a cut above the rest and have repeatedly demonstrated their superiority over the teams in the next tier. Rogue is a team formed with the goal to be the very best, and with the talent in their side will look to find a permanent DPS player to fight their way back to the top as soon as possible.
There are many teams in the next tier of European Overwatch that could arguably be placed 5th at the moment, but I'm gonna give it to ANOX in the light of their results last weekend. ANOX upset both REUNITED and Rogue to reach the finals of the ELEAGUE Overwatch Open qualifiers for EU before being beaten by Misfits in the finals. This is ANOX's first full month as a team together, with Anak, Kensi and Rubikon (former tf2 players) joining from 4-25 early June. Sharyk (tank) and Quake legends Coollerz and Cypher round out the roster. Talent doesn't seem to be on short side for this mostly Eastern European team and they currently look to be the team that has the most potential to become a serious contender for the best teams in Europe in the future.
Best of the rest: 2sTroNk/WEUNITED/SG-1/Melty
Things can move at lightning speed in the world of e-sports and Overwatch is no exception. Already, the balance changes have seen a large drop in usage of the dreaded Pharmacy combo of Pharah and Mercy, with both heroes seeing extremely limited play post-patch. 2sTroNk, WEUNITED, SG-1, and Melty are all just outside the top five, but a slight change, such as being the quickest team to figure out a new optimal strategy, finding the next favoured hero coming into the meta, a roster change or even simply more experience and practice could see any one of these teams break into the top tier.
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